New Standards Will Add $40 Billion in Air Pollution Investment in China

Contrary to popular belief, China is ahead of the U.S. in cleaning up its air emissions from coal-fired power plants. Furthermore, regulations will be tightened. This will cause another $40 billion in investment. This is the conclusion reached in FGD World Markets, a continually updated publication of the McIlvaine Company.

China has installed flue gas desulfurization systems on 532,000 MW of capacity as of the end of 2010. This compares to less than 200,000 MW of FGD in the U.S. No other country in the world has more than 50,000 MW of FGD. With 707,000 MW of total coal-fired capacity, China has fitted more than 75 percent of its coal-fired capacity with FGD. This compares to less than 60 percent in the U.S.

New standards to take effect on January 1, 2012 will limit sulfur emissions in populated areas to 100 mg/Nm3. This is a reduction from the present general standard of 400 mg/Nm3. China is also investing more in NOx reduction than any other country. It has now targeted mercury and is crafting a program to achieve reduction of this pollutant as well.

China has also undertaken a massive program to shut down 76,000 MW of old small coal-fired power plants. This is more capacity than exists in any country except the U.S. Additional measures are being taken to strengthen the enforcement of the regulations. Fines and continuous monitoring of emissions are two key elements of this program.

A number of Chinese air pollution control companies now rank among the most experienced in the world. The following companies each have more than 20,000 MW of FGD experience:

Beijing Guodian Longyuan Environmental

Wuhan Kaidi Electric Power Environmental Protection Co., Ltd.

Beijing Boots Electric Power Science & Technology Co., Ltd.

Zhejiang University Insigma Mechanical Engineering Co., Ltd.

CPI Yuanda Environmental Protection Engineering Co., Ltd.

Shangdong Sanrong Environmental Protection Engineering Co., Ltd

Fujian Longking Environmental Protection Co., Ltd.

Most of the systems utilize wet scrubbing with spray tower technology. Limestone is used as the reagent. The technology has been licensed from U.S., Japanese and European companies. A small percentage of the systems use seawater as the scrubbing agent. There are more than one hundred systems in operation using dry scrubber technology. However, these are mostly small boiler systems.